


Bouquet

by penlex



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bisexual Character, Blind Date, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Multi, Mutual Pining, Nonbinary Character, Other, POV Third Person Limited, Polyamory, Present Tense, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-18 00:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14200590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penlex/pseuds/penlex
Summary: It's not that Ahava wants to pine away after Venus forever, to hang on the fringes of her relationship with Chikondi and catch all of the affection that overflows from them like the bouquet at a wedding. But ze doesn't want to get over her either.





	Bouquet

 

_Save me_ , Ahava texts to Venus thirty minutes into the date she arranged for hir. It's not the first blind that Venus and Chikondi, her boyfriend, have set up - not even the first one that Ahava has bailed on. It's kind of difficult, after all, to have fun on a date put together for you by the person you'd much rather be dating instead. Ahava's ill advised crush is embarrassingly long lived, and humiliatingly obvious, but Venus never seems to notice. Or maybe Venus is just so merciful and kind that she chooses to ignore it so their friendship doesn't become awkward. Merciful and kind is definitely a way that Ahava would describe Venus.

(Merciful and kind and beautiful and loyal and generous and talented and smart and _hot_ \- good lord but her muscles have muscles, and she's so tall, and her eyes are so deep and dark Ahava could just drown…)

Ahava had expected this date to go like all the others - that ze would be distracted and guilty all night comparing hir date to Venus. That ze would walk home alone and hesitate at the door to the apartment ze shares with Venus, practising the same disappointing speech ze always gives after a date. No, this one wasn't right either, I'm sorry you went to the trouble…

Ahava is panicking - counterintuitively, probably - because this date is actually going well. Kama, the man across from hir, is charming and good looking and kind and Ahava hasn't been thinking about Venus and hir eyes have caught on his mouth more than once. Kama is a librarian who names his cats after his lucky numbers, which are all prime, and he didn't get bored when Ahava got excited about math. His eyes are deep and dark too, but with an ever-present sparkle - not the kind of eyes you drown in, more the burning kind.

It's not that Ahava wants to pine away after Venus forever, to hang on the fringes of her relationship with Chikondi and catch all of the affection that overflows from them like the bouquet at a wedding. But ze doesn't want to get over her either. Ahava has loved Venus for so long now it's a part of hir, and ze's scared of how ze might change if that does.

 _Omw_ , Venus texts hir back, no questions asked. Ahava feels hir eyes fill up as fast as hir heart does, and hurriedly blinks them back before going back to the table where Kama - beautiful, sweet voiced Kama - is waiting.

Ahava is already flushed and half breathless with infatuation by the time Venus arrives, and her presence certainly doesn't help matters. Kama is a mutual friend of Chikondi's and he and Venus have never met, so he doesn't recognize her and realize something is amiss right away. He figures it out pretty quickly when she slides into the booth with Ahava and situates herself as far into hir space as possible.

"I thought you decided to stay in tonight, baby," Venus purrs, a stage whisper into Ahava's ear. Ahava bites hir lip hard. Ze knows Venus is just trying to ruin this date for hir because she thinks something went wrong because of what Ahava texted her, but Ahava has dreamed about Venus calling hir that, about Venus wrapping her heavy arm around hir shoulders like this, what seems like twice daily for years.

Ahava looks back and forth between Kama and Venus, absolutely floundering for a response, wanting to bask in Venus's attention but not wanting to hurt Kama's feelings. Ze knows ze must be red in the face, and hir heart is racing. Venus's fingers slide in between hirs and ze squeezes, pulls her closer without thinking. Ze finally settles her eyes - wide with both the panic of change or getting caught and with the excitement of romance and newness - on Venus's.

Their faces are so close their noses are almost brushing. Venus sits straighter and the movement brings her even closer - surely an accident. Ahava tilts hir head, meaning to move away, but failing. Ze sighs, staring into Venus's eyes like ze always tries not to do but there's no way to avoid it now. Ze can't miss it when Venus's gaze drops down to hir mouth and sticks there. Just for a second. Could it mean…?

Ahava tears hir eyes away from Venus to look across the table at Kama. He's farther away but he looks inviting, and less risky. Ze doesn't know what to do, what ze wants.

"You like him?" Venus gasps, her hand suddenly squeezing tighter. "Then why did you text me?" Kama's eyebrow raises and Ahava gulps. Ze glances back and forth between them one more time. Surely it's too good to be true, to think that ze could have both of them - or either, even. But just in case...

"I do like him but I don't think I'm ready to move on," ze admits, letting it out on a deep breath. "From you."

Venus gasps again, her eyes going wide and shiny.

"Ahava…" she whispers, pulling hir closer. "I didn't know you- I've been-" She takes a deep breath too, and then gently presses her plush lips to Ahava's in a chaste, achingly sweet kiss. "Chikondi and I talked about it once, but I thought it would be too good to be true…" Ahava laughs to hear hir thoughts spoken back to hir.

"You must be Venus," Kama says then, with good humor in his sweet voice. And then, "For the record, I don't believe in things that are too good to be true."

"That seems like a good policy," Ahava says. Ze plants another soft kiss on Venus, and then ze stands and leans over the table to give one to Kama too. "I think I'll adopt it."

**Author's Note:**

> You can also read and commenton this work FOR FREE on [my patreon](https://www.patreon.com/posts/17944739).


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